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<h1> THE TALISMAN </h1>
<h2> By Sir Walter Scott </h2>
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<p><SPAN name="link2H_INTR" id="link2H_INTR"></SPAN></p>
<h2> INTRODUCTION TO THE TALISMAN. </h2>
<p>The "Betrothed" did not greatly please one or two friends, who thought
that it did not well correspond to the general title of "The Crusaders."
They urged, therefore, that, without direct allusion to the manners of the
Eastern tribes, and to the romantic conflicts of the period, the title of
a "Tale of the Crusaders" would resemble the playbill, which is said to
have announced the tragedy of Hamlet, the character of the Prince of
Denmark being left out. On the other hand, I felt the difficulty of giving
a vivid picture of a part of the world with which I was almost totally
unacquainted, unless by early recollections of the Arabian Nights'
Entertainments; and not only did I labour under the incapacity of
ignorance—in which, as far as regards Eastern manners, I was as
thickly wrapped as an Egyptian in his fog—but my contemporaries
were, many of them, as much enlightened upon the subject as if they had
been inhabitants of the favoured land of Goshen. The love of travelling
had pervaded all ranks, and carried the subjects of Britain into all
quarters of the world. Greece, so attractive by its remains of art, by its
struggles for freedom against a Mohammedan tyrant, by its very name, where
every fountain had its classical legend—Palestine, endeared to the
imagination by yet more sacred remembrances—had been of late
surveyed by British eyes, and described by recent travellers. Had I,
therefore, attempted the difficult task of substituting manners of my own
invention, instead of the genuine costume of the East, almost every
traveller I met who had extended his route beyond what was anciently
called "The Grand Tour," had acquired a right, by ocular inspection, to
chastise me for my presumption. Every member of the Travellers' Club who
could pretend to have thrown his shoe over Edom was, by having done so,
constituted my lawful critic and corrector. It occurred, therefore, that
where the author of Anastasius, as well as he of Hadji Baba, had described
the manners and vices of the Eastern nations, not only with fidelity, but
with the humour of Le Sage and the ludicrous power of Fielding himself,
one who was a perfect stranger to the subject must necessarily produce an
unfavourable contrast. The Poet Laureate also, in the charming tale of
"Thalaba," had shown how extensive might be the researches of a person of
acquirements and talent, by dint of investigation alone, into the ancient
doctrines, history, and manners of the Eastern countries, in which we are
probably to look for the cradle of mankind; Moore, in his "Lalla Rookh,"
had successfully trod the same path; in which, too, Byron, joining ocular
experience to extensive reading, had written some of his most attractive
poems. In a word, the Eastern themes had been already so successfully
handled by those who were acknowledged to be masters of their craft, that
I was diffident of making the attempt.</p>
<p>These were powerful objections; nor did they lose force when they became
the subject of anxious reflection, although they did not finally prevail.
The arguments on the other side were, that though I had no hope of
rivalling the contemporaries whom I have mentioned, yet it occurred to me
as possible to acquit myself of the task I was engaged in without entering
into competition with them.</p>
<p>The period relating more immediately to the Crusades which I at last fixed
upon was that at which the warlike character of Richard I., wild and
generous, a pattern of chivalry, with all its extravagant virtues, and its
no less absurd errors, was opposed to that of Saladin, in which the
Christian and English monarch showed all the cruelty and violence of an
Eastern sultan, and Saladin, on the other hand, displayed the deep policy
and prudence of a European sovereign, whilst each contended which should
excel the other in the knightly qualities of bravery and generosity. This
singular contrast afforded, as the author conceived, materials for a work
of fiction possessing peculiar interest. One of the inferior characters
introduced was a supposed relation of Richard Coeur de Lion—a
violation of the truth of history which gave offence to Mr. Mills, the
author of the "History of Chivalry and the Crusades," who was not, it may
be presumed, aware that romantic fiction naturally includes the power of
such invention, which is indeed one of the requisites of the art.</p>
<p>Prince David of Scotland, who was actually in the host, and was the hero
of some very romantic adventures on his way home, was also pressed into my
service, and constitutes one of my DRAMATIS PERSONAE.</p>
<p>It is true I had already brought upon the field him of the lion heart. But
it was in a more private capacity than he was here to be exhibited in the
Talisman—then as a disguised knight, now in the avowed character of
a conquering monarch; so that I doubted not a name so dear to Englishmen
as that of King Richard I. might contribute to their amusement for more
than once.</p>
<p>I had access to all which antiquity believed, whether of reality or fable,
on the subject of that magnificent warrior, who was the proudest boast of
Europe and their chivalry, and with whose dreadful name the Saracens,
according to a historian of their own country, were wont to rebuke their
startled horses. "Do you think," said they, "that King Richard is on the
track, that you stray so wildly from it?" The most curious register of the
history of King Richard is an ancient romance, translated originally from
the Norman; and at first certainly having a pretence to be termed a work
of chivalry, but latterly becoming stuffed with the most astonishing and
monstrous fables. There is perhaps no metrical romance upon record where,
along with curious and genuine history, are mingled more absurd and
exaggerated incidents. We have placed in the Appendix to this Introduction
the passage of the romance in which Richard figures as an ogre, or literal
cannibal.</p>
<p>A principal incident in the story is that from which the title is derived.
Of all people who ever lived, the Persians were perhaps most remarkable
for their unshaken credulity in amulets, spells, periapts, and similar
charms, framed, it was said, under the influence of particular planets,
and bestowing high medical powers, as well as the means of advancing men's
fortunes in various manners. A story of this kind, relating to a Crusader
of eminence, is often told in the west of Scotland, and the relic alluded
to is still in existence, and even yet held in veneration.</p>
<p>Sir Simon Lockhart of Lee and Gartland made a considerable figure in the
reigns of Robert the Bruce and of his son David. He was one of the chief
of that band of Scottish chivalry who accompanied James, the Good Lord
Douglas, on his expedition to the Holy Land with the heart of King Robert
Bruce. Douglas, impatient to get at the Saracens, entered into war with
those of Spain, and was killed there. Lockhart proceeded to the Holy Land
with such Scottish knights as had escaped the fate of their leader and
assisted for some time in the wars against the Saracens.</p>
<p>The following adventure is said by tradition to have befallen him:—</p>
<p>He made prisoner in battle an Emir of considerable wealth and consequence.
The aged mother of the captive came to the Christian camp, to redeem her
son from his state of captivity. Lockhart is said to have fixed the price
at which his prisoner should ransom himself; and the lady, pulling out a
large embroidered purse, proceeded to tell down the ransom, like a mother
who pays little respect to gold in comparison of her son's liberty. In
this operation, a pebble inserted in a coin, some say of the Lower Empire,
fell out of the purse, and the Saracen matron testified so much haste to
recover it as gave the Scottish knight a high idea of its value, when
compared with gold or silver. "I will not consent," he said, "to grant
your son's liberty, unless that amulet be added to his ransom." The lady
not only consented to this, but explained to Sir Simon Lockhart the mode
in which the talisman was to be used, and the uses to which it might be
put. The water in which it was dipped operated as a styptic, as a
febrifuge, and possessed other properties as a medical talisman.</p>
<p>Sir Simon Lockhart, after much experience of the wonders which it wrought,
brought it to his own country, and left it to his heirs, by whom, and by
Clydesdale in general, it was, and is still, distinguished by the name of
the Lee-penny, from the name of his native seat of Lee.</p>
<p>The most remarkable part of its history, perhaps, was that it so
especially escaped condemnation when the Church of Scotland chose to
impeach many other cures which savoured of the miraculous, as occasioned
by sorcery, and censured the appeal to them, "excepting only that to the
amulet, called the Lee-penny, to which it had pleased God to annex certain
healing virtues which the Church did not presume to condemn." It still, as
has been said, exists, and its powers are sometimes resorted to. Of late,
they have been chiefly restricted to the cure of persons bitten by mad
dogs; and as the illness in such cases frequently arises from imagination,
there can be no reason for doubting that water which has been poured on
the Lee-penny furnishes a congenial cure.</p>
<p>Such is the tradition concerning the talisman, which the author has taken
the liberty to vary in applying it to his own purposes.</p>
<p>Considerable liberties have also been taken with the truth of history,
both with respect to Conrade of Montserrat's life, as well as his death.
That Conrade, however, was reckoned the enemy of Richard is agreed both in
history and romance. The general opinion of the terms upon which they
stood may be guessed from the proposal of the Saracens that the Marquis of
Montserrat should be invested with certain parts of Syria, which they were
to yield to the Christians. Richard, according to the romance which bears
his name, "could no longer repress his fury. The Marquis he said, was a
traitor, who had robbed the Knights Hospitallers of sixty thousand pounds,
the present of his father Henry; that he was a renegade, whose treachery
had occasioned the loss of Acre; and he concluded by a solemn oath, that
he would cause him to be drawn to pieces by wild horses, if he should ever
venture to pollute the Christian camp by his presence. Philip attempted to
intercede in favour of the Marquis, and throwing down his glove, offered
to become a pledge for his fidelity to the Christians; but his offer was
rejected, and he was obliged to give way to Richard's impetuosity."—HISTORY
OF CHIVALRY.</p>
<p>Conrade of Montserrat makes a considerable figure in those wars, and was
at length put to death by one of the followers of the Scheik, or Old Man
of the Mountain; nor did Richard remain free of the suspicion of having
instigated his death.</p>
<p>It may be said, in general, that most of the incidents introduced in the
following tale are fictitious, and that reality, where it exists, is only
retained in the characters of the piece.</p>
<p>ABBOTSFORD, 1st July, 1832</p>
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<h2> APPENDIX TO INTRODUCTION. </h2>
<h3> While warring in the Holy Land, Richard was seized with an ague. </h3>
<p>The best leeches of the camp were unable to effect the cure of the King's
disease; but the prayers of the army were more successful. He became
convalescent, and the first symptom of his recovery was a violent longing
for pork. But pork was not likely to be plentiful in a country whose
inhabitants had an abhorrence for swine's flesh; and</p>
<p>"Though his men should be hanged,<br/>
They ne might, in that countrey,<br/>
For gold, ne silver, ne no money,<br/>
No pork find, take, ne get,<br/>
That King Richard might aught of eat.<br/>
An old knight with Richard biding,<br/>
When he heard of that tiding,<br/>
That the king's wants were swyche,<br/>
To the steward he spake privyliche—<br/>
"Our lord the king sore is sick, I wis,<br/>
After porck he alonged is;<br/>
Ye may none find to selle;<br/>
No man be hardy him so to telle!<br/>
If he did he might die.<br/>
Now behoves to done as I shall say,<br/>
Tho' he wete nought of that.<br/>
Take a Saracen, young and fat;<br/>
In haste let the thief be slain,<br/>
Opened, and his skin off flayn;<br/>
And sodden full hastily,<br/>
With powder and with spicery,<br/>
And with saffron of good colour.<br/>
When the king feels thereof savour,<br/>
Out of ague if he be went,<br/>
He shall have thereto good talent.<br/>
When he has a good taste,<br/>
And eaten well a good repast,<br/>
And supped of the BREWIS [Broth] a sup,<br/>
Slept after and swet a drop,<br/>
Through Goddis help and my counsail,<br/>
Soon he shall be fresh and hail.'<br/>
The sooth to say, at wordes few,<br/>
Slain and sodden was the heathen shrew.<br/>
Before the king it was forth brought:<br/>
Quod his men, 'Lord, we have pork sought;<br/>
Eates and sups of the brewis SOOTE,[Sweet]<br/>
Thorough grace of God it shall be your boot.'<br/>
Before King Richard carff a knight,<br/>
He ate faster than he carve might.<br/>
The king ate the flesh and GNEW [Gnawed] the bones,<br/>
And drank well after for the nonce.<br/>
And when he had eaten enough,<br/>
His folk hem turned away, and LOUGH.[Laughed]<br/>
He lay still and drew in his arm;<br/>
His chamberlain him wrapped warm.<br/>
He lay and slept, and swet a stound,<br/>
And became whole and sound.<br/>
King Richard clad him and arose,<br/>
And walked abouten in the close."<br/></p>
<p>An attack of the Saracens was repelled by Richard in person, the
consequence of which is told in the following lines:—</p>
<p>"When King Richard had rested a whyle,<br/>
A knight his arms 'gan unlace,<br/>
Him to comfort and solace.<br/>
Him was brought a sop in wine.<br/>
'The head of that ilke swine,<br/>
That I of ate!' (the cook he bade,)<br/>
'For feeble I am, and faint and mad.<br/>
Of mine evil now I am fear;<br/>
Serve me therewith at my soupere!'<br/>
Quod the cook, 'That head I ne have.'<br/>
Then said the king, 'So God me save,<br/>
But I see the head of that swine,<br/>
For sooth, thou shalt lesen thine!'<br/>
The cook saw none other might be;<br/>
He fet the head and let him see.<br/>
He fell on knees, and made a cry—<br/>
'Lo, here the head! my Lord, mercy!'"<br/></p>
<p>The cook had certainly some reason to fear that his master would be struck
with horror at the recollection of the dreadful banquet to which he owed
his recovery; but his fears were soon dissipated.</p>
<p>"The swarte vis [Black face] when the king seeth,<br/>
His black beard and white teeth,<br/>
How his lippes grinned wide,<br/>
'What devil is this?' the king cried,<br/>
And 'gan to laugh as he were wode.<br/>
'What! is Saracen's flesh thus good?<br/>
That never erst I nought wist!<br/>
By God's death and his uprist,<br/>
Shall we never die for default,<br/>
While we may in any assault,<br/>
Slee Saracens, the flesh may take,<br/>
And seethen and roasten and do hem bake,<br/>
[And] Gnawen her flesh to the bones!<br/>
Now I have it proved once,<br/>
For hunger ere I be wo,<br/>
I and my folk shall eat mo!"'<br/></p>
<p>The besieged now offered to surrender, upon conditions of safety to the
inhabitants; while all the public treasure, military machines, and arms
were delivered to the victors, together with the further ransom of one
hundred thousand bezants. After this capitulation, the following
extraordinary scene took place. We shall give it in the words of the
humorous and amiable George Ellis, the collector and the editor of these
Romances:—</p>
<p>"Though the garrison had faithfully performed the other articles of their
contract, they were unable to restore the cross, which was not in their
possession, and were therefore treated by the Christians with great
cruelty. Daily reports of their sufferings were carried to Saladin; and as
many of them were persons of the highest distinction, that monarch, at the
solicitation of their friends, dispatched an embassy to King Richard with
magnificent presents, which he offered for the ransom of the captives. The
ambassadors were persons the most respectable from their age, their rank,
and their eloquence. They delivered their message in terms of the utmost
humility; and without arraigning the justice of the conqueror in his
severe treatment of their countrymen, only solicited a period to that
severity, laying at his feet the treasures with which they were entrusted,
and pledging themselves and their master for the payment of any further
sums which he might demand as the price of mercy.</p>
<p>"King Richard spake with wordes mild.<br/>
'The gold to take, God me shield!<br/>
Among you partes [Divide] every charge.<br/>
I brought in shippes and in barge,<br/>
More gold and silver with me,<br/>
Than has your lord, and swilke three.<br/>
To his treasure have I no need!<br/>
But for my love I you bid,<br/>
To meat with me that ye dwell;<br/>
And afterward I shall you tell.<br/>
Thorough counsel I shall you answer,<br/>
What BODE [Message] ye shall to your lord bear.<br/></p>
<p>"The invitation was gratefully accepted. Richard, in the meantime, gave
secret orders to his marshal that he should repair to the prison, select a
certain number of the most distinguished captives, and, after carefully
noting their names on a roll of parchment, cause their heads to be
instantly struck off; that these heads should be delivered to the cook,
with instructions to clear away the hair, and, after boiling them in a
cauldron, to distribute them on several platters, one to each guest,
observing to fasten on the forehead of each the piece of parchment
expressing the name and family of the victim.</p>
<p>"'An hot head bring me beforn,<br/>
As I were well apayed withall,<br/>
Eat thereof fast I shall;<br/>
As it were a tender chick,<br/>
To see how the others will like.'<br/></p>
<p>"This horrible order was punctually executed. At noon the guests were
summoned to wash by the music of the waits. The king took his seat
attended by the principal officers of his court, at the high table, and
the rest of the company were marshalled at a long table below him. On the
cloth were placed portions of salt at the usual distances, but neither
bread, wine, nor water. The ambassadors, rather surprised at this
omission, but still free from apprehension, awaited in silence the arrival
of the dinner, which was announced by the sound of pipes, trumpets, and
tabours; and beheld, with horror and dismay, the unnatural banquet
introduced by the steward and his officers. Yet their sentiments of
disgust and abhorrence, and even their fears, were for a time suspended by
their curiosity. Their eyes were fixed on the king, who, without the
slightest change of countenance, swallowed the morsels as fast as they
could be supplied by the knight who carved them.</p>
<p>"Every man then poked other;<br/>
They said, 'This is the devil's brother,<br/>
That slays our men, and thus hem eats!'<br/></p>
<p>"Their attention was then involuntarily fixed on the smoking heads before
them. They traced in the swollen and distorted features the resemblance of
a friend or near relation, and received from the fatal scroll which
accompanied each dish the sad assurance that this resemblance was not
imaginary. They sat in torpid silence, anticipating their own fate in that
of their countrymen; while their ferocious entertainer, with fury in his
eyes, but with courtesy on his lips, insulted them by frequent invitations
to merriment. At length this first course was removed, and its place
supplied by venison, cranes, and other dainties, accompanied by the
richest wines. The king then apologized to them for what had passed, which
he attributed to his ignorance of their taste; and assured them of his
religious respect for their characters as ambassadors, and of his
readiness to grant them a safe-conduct for their return. This boon was all
that they now wished to claim; and</p>
<p>"King Richard spake to an old man,<br/>
'Wendes home to your Soudan!<br/>
His melancholy that ye abate;<br/>
And sayes that ye came too late.<br/>
Too slowly was your time y-guessed;<br/>
Ere ye came, the flesh was dressed,<br/>
That men shoulden serve with me,<br/>
Thus at noon, and my meynie.<br/>
Say him, it shall him nought avail,<br/>
Though he for-bar us our vitail,<br/>
Bread, wine, fish, flesh, salmon, and conger;<br/>
Of us none shall die with hunger,<br/>
While we may wenden to fight,<br/>
And slay the Saracens downright,<br/>
Wash the flesh, and roast the head.<br/>
With 0 [One] Saracen I may well feed<br/>
Well a nine or a ten<br/>
Of my good Christian men.<br/>
King Richard shall warrant,<br/>
There is no flesh so nourissant<br/>
Unto an English man,<br/>
Partridge, plover, heron, ne swan,<br/>
Cow ne ox, sheep ne swine,<br/>
As the head of a Sarazyn.<br/>
There he is fat, and thereto tender,<br/>
And my men be lean and slender.<br/>
While any Saracen quick be,<br/>
Livand now in this Syrie,<br/>
For meat will we nothing care.<br/>
Abouten fast we shall rare,<br/>
And every day we shall eat<br/>
All as many as we may get.<br/>
To England will we nought gon,<br/>
Till they be eaten every one.'"<br/></p>
<p>ELLIS'S SPECIMENS OF EARLY ENGLISH METRICEL ROMANCES.<br/></p>
<p>The reader may be curious to know owing to what circumstances so
extraordinary an invention as that which imputed cannibalism to the King
of England should have found its way into his history. Mr. James, to whom
we owe so much that is curious, seems to have traced the origin of this
extraordinary rumour.</p>
<p>"With the army of the cross also was a multitude of men," the same author
declares, "who made it a profession to be without money. They walked
barefoot, carried no arms, and even preceded the beasts of burden in their
march, living upon roots and herbs, and presenting a spectacle both
disgusting and pitiable.</p>
<p>"A Norman, who, according to all accounts, was of noble birth, but who,
having lost his horse, continued to follow as a foot soldier, took the
strange resolution of putting himself at the head of this race of
vagabonds, who willingly received him as their king. Amongst the Saracens
these men became well known under the name of THAFURS (which Guibert
translates TRUDENTES), and were beheld with great horror from the general
persuasion that they fed on the dead bodies of their enemies; a report
which was occasionally justified, and which the king of the Thafurs took
care to encourage. This respectable monarch was frequently in the habit of
stopping his followers, one by one, in a narrow defile, and of causing
them to be searched carefully, lest the possession of the least sum of
money should render them unworthy of the name of his subjects. If even two
sous were found upon any one, he was instantly expelled the society of his
tribe, the king bidding him contemptuously buy arms and fight.</p>
<p>"This troop, so far from being cumbersome to the army, was infinitely
serviceable, carrying burdens, bringing in forage, provisions, and
tribute; working the machines in the sieges; and, above all, spreading
consternation among the Turks, who feared death from the lances of the
knights less than that further consummation they heard of under the teeth
of the Thafurs." [James's "History of Chivalry."]</p>
<p>It is easy to conceive that an ignorant minstrel, finding the taste and
ferocity of the Thafurs commemorated in the historical accounts of the
Holy Wars, has ascribed their practices and propensities to the Monarch of
England, whose ferocity was considered as an object of exaggeration as
legitimate as his valour.</p>
<p>ABBOTSFORD, 1st July, 1832.</p>
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<h2> TALES OF THE CRUSADERS. TALE II.—THE TALISMAN. </h2>
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